Motorola One Action Phone Slays Vertical Video

By
Sascha SeganAug. 16, 2019, 9 p.m.

The new Motorola One Action, available in the US in October, features a wide-angle video camera that records horizontal video when held vertically.

Die, vertical video, die! Motorola today announced a hilariously exciting new smartphone, the Motorola One Action, which turns its wide-angle camera 90 degrees so you can record horizontal video while holding the camera vertically.

I think this is hilarious; I also think it's brilliant. A 117-degree, wide angle "action" camera shouldn't take vertical video—you'd just get a lot of sky or ground. But people want to hold their phones vertically because it's more stable. So pow, now we're taking horizontal video with a vertical camera.

I'm putting "action" camera in quotes here because the camera only has electronic (not optical) image stabilization, and the phone isn't rugged. The camera is made to be compatible with bike mounts, Motorola said, and bike mounts are vertical.

The 4-megapixel wide-angle camera is one of two main cameras on the back of the One Action. The other is a 12-megapixel, f/1.8 standard camera that takes video in a normally rotated way: vertically if you're holding the phone vertically, and horizontally if you're holding it horizontally. There is also a 5-megapixel dedicated depth sensor on the back.

The One Action has another twist: it's a very rare US phone with a Samsung Exynos processor. Not even Samsung phones in the US have Samsung Exynos processors! The Exynos 9609 processor in here appears to benchmark similarly to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 in the Google Pixel 3a. In this case, it just seemed to be a processor Motorola could afford with performance it liked.

The other specs are respectably midrange: 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage with a MicroSD card, a 21:9, 6.3-inch 1080p LCD screen, 3500mAh battery, slow Cat 6 LTE (which would work on all four US networks except Sprint), and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.

Confusingly given the phone's name, the One Action won't run Google's Android One OS. Motorola said the phone will run Android One outside the US, but not on the US model because Motorola doesn't want to adhere to Google's monthly security update policy. Android One isn't a "strong purchase driver" for the phone, and Motorola will continue to offer a very Google-y Android experience, including updates to Android Q and R, Motorola reps said.

"We've decided to test how Motorola One Action performs without Android One and re-invest taking into consideration our consumer's needs. We will continue our strategic partnership with Google to deliver a clean Android experience and reinforce Google's helpful innovations such as Assistant, Lens, Photos, and Digital Wellbeing," Motorola said.

The One Action will come to the US unlocked in October. Motorola didn't announce a price, but it costs $287 in Europe.

About the Author

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.

Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed to the Frommer's series of travel guides and Web sites for more than a decade. Other than his home town of New York, his favorite ... See Full Bio